Considerations on the significance attributed to unusual cerebral histological findings recently described in eight...

The authors, although they express appreciation of the importance of publishing careful anatomical reports in cases of epilepsy, express some doubts concerning the pathological nature of the histological features reported by Meencke and Janz in the brains of eight patients suffering from primary generalized epilepsy. As illustrated and described, most of the histological findings considered abnormal are commonly seen in neurologically normal controls. Also, true "minor dysgenetic changes" have been observed in individuals free of cerebral disorders. Furthermore, the hypothesis drawn from the neuropathological observations to explain the etiopathogenesis of this category of epilepsy and the physiopathogenesis of the seizures does not seem acceptable to the authors.